Korina Baluyut Sanchez

Korina Sanchez

Korina Baluyut Sanchez is a Filipino award-winning and one of the most respected broadcast journalists in the Philippines. She is one of the frontline personalities for ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, which is her home network for more than two decades.

Profile

Sanchez was born on October 5, 1964 in Hong Kong, where her parents met. Her mother, Celia, was an interior designer and her father, Ramon, was a manager in Ambassador Hotel. She is the eldest and only girl in a brood of four. Her family came to the Philippines and set up a carpet company that she says "that rose to one of the biggest in the Philippines."

Korina dreamt to be in the performing arts, just like her mother, but she believed her calling had always been in the field of information and communication. Seeing future-ABS-CBN-colleague Loren Legarda doing the news appealed to her enough to enroll in a newscasting school. She figured that with newscasting, she would be able to get the best of both worlds: writing and being on TV. Without telling her parents, she temporarily stopped college to take courses at Programs Philippines Incorporated. She left her family home shortly after she started working.

Korina Sanchez is also known for being an advocate against medical malpractice in the Philippines.

Career

Sanchez rose from the ranks. From being a station weathergirl at PTV-4 (now NBN-4) under the supervision of Greg Cendaña, she advanced to be the hourly newsbreak announcer, beat reporter and pinch-hit anchor to her seniors. She was one of ABS-CBN's pioneers when it reopened in 1986 after being closed down by President Ferdinand Marcos. She became executive producer and host to programs such as Magandang Umaga Po with Noli de Castro, Bayan Ko Sagot Ko, Hoy Gising!, Options, Balitang K, Isyu 101 and Pulso: Aksyon Balita.

When de Castro ran for public office in 2001, Korina was elected by ABS-CBN's news department to be the anchor of flagship news program TV Patrol.

Sanchez also has a career in radio through dzMM, ABS-CBN's Metro Manila radio station. She does socio-political commentary with longtime friend Ted Failon, who was also her co-anchor in Hoy Gising!. Their program was first entitled Aksyon Ngayon, and then renamed Tambalang Failon at Sanchez. When Failon was elected Congressman of the first district of Leyte province, Sanchez hosted the program on her own and it was renamed Korina sa Umaga. Three years later, the show reverted to Tambalang Failon at Sanchez after Failon opted not to run for another term.

2004 was an eventful year for Sanchez after her romantic relationship with then-Senatorial-candidate Mar Roxas was revealed to the public! Rumors spread, saying he paid her millions of pesos to help him gain votes! She also lost her parents barely three months apart: her mother to cancer and her father to a series of strokes. She was also removed from TV Patrol after 24 Oras of rival GMA 7 triumphed in the ratings with veteran Mel Tiangco. However, she was appointed by the network and remained as the news organization's Chief Correspondent for Philippine & Global Operations.

After almost two years of Sanchez' hiatus in newscasting, she was re-installed as news anchor at Bandila, the news program of ABS-CBN which replaced Insider. It had its pilot last July 3, 2006 with a banner story about Danny Lim's withdrawal of support from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

On July 10, 2006, ABS-CBN News Channel celebrated its 10th Year in the broadcast industry. It introduced new programs that will make the channel a better provider of news. Included in the new programs is a noontime discussion (with a late evening rerun) show Korina Today, hosted by no less than Miss Sanchez herself.

Korina is also consistently included as one of the preferred senatoriables! Her name is always included in the top 12 preferred personalities for the Senatorial Race based on the surveys of Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, including the 2004 and recently released survey for 2007 elections. However, Korina has always declined invitations to join the political arena, thinking that it is better to watch mud wrestling than being part of it.

Korina Sanchez was suspended by ABS-CBN for one week effective December 21, 2006, covering all her TV and radio programs. Sanchez was reprimanded by the network for “conflict of interest, several articles that called attention to her activities outside of the company, and an editorial lapse,” when she became a proponent of a firm that produces concerts for MYMP.

Awards

Sanchez has received numerous awards from various award-giving bodies for television, including the Gawad CCP para sa Telebisyon, Community Outstanding Young Achievers Awards, Catholic Mass Media Awards, KBP Golden Dove Awards, PMPC Star Awards for Best Female Newscaster which she shared with almost a decade winner and industry pillar Mel Tiangco. Her recent awards include Best Newscaster for TV Patrol, Best Talk Show Host for Morning Girls with Kris and Korina, Best Radio Program for Korina sa Umaga, Pipol of the Year 2004, best female newscaster award from UST TV Awards 2005, and Anak TV Seal 2006 favorite Female Personalities. For 2007, Sanchez was awarded as Best Magazine Show host by two award-giving bodies, the Philippine Movie Press Club and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas. She was also awarded as one People Asia's Women of Style and Substance. She also ranked number one across all ten female TV personalities in Anak TV Seal's Most Admired Female Personalities for 2007.

Relationships

Korina is mostly known to rather keep things to herself, but rather unsuccessfully. She was known to have a relationship more than a decade ago with Kris Aquino's brother, Noynoy and she is currently in a relationship with Philippine Senator Mar Roxas. It has been previously known that Sanchez and Roxas will be married within 2008, and that Roxas will be running for presidency in the 2010 elections, thus, making Sanchez a potential first lady of the Republic of the Philippines. However, Sanchez said that she is prioritizing her journalism career as of the moment, and that she is not yet planning to marry Mar Roxas.

Controversy

Korina Sanchez was suspended by ABS-CBN for one week effective December 21, 2006, covering all her TV and radio programs. Sanchez was reprimanded by the network for “conflict of interest, several articles that called attention to her activities outside of the company, and an editorial lapse,” when she became a proponent of a firm that produces concerts for MYMP.

Sanchez' name was also dragged during the height of a controversy involving FrancSwiss, a pyramiding scheme. On July 10, 2007 denies having invested in FrancSwiss. “I categorically deny making any investment in FrancSwiss. It was irresponsible for the National Bureau of Investigation to make the reckless allegation and destroy my reputation as a broadcast journalist, which I carefully built and protected through the years,” Sanchez, who is abroad issued the statement. 25 people already filed complaints against Francswiss and each poured in a minimum of $1,000. NBI Senior Agent Manny Fayre is set to invite some personalities to shed light on the incident, including popular actress Claudine Barreto and her actor-husband Raymart Santiago, broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez and cager Bonnel Balingit.